


lost but close to home

by gearyoak



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-12 05:29:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11155221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gearyoak/pseuds/gearyoak
Summary: Genji notices someone missing; does some of his own research





	lost but close to home

**Author's Note:**

> this is all very self indulgent. i used genji as an outlet to express my worry for mccree because honestly??? he's been through a lot
> 
> like always if you see anything shitty or tagged improperly let me know

The terminal room was cold and dark, but neither affected Genji. After spending a few days at the old watchpoint, some blues and greys were a nice change from the Gibraltar reds and oranges. The place was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, not anymore. But it was empty; lonely.

 

Winston had expressed with contagious excitement that that would change sooner than later. When he sent out the request for the recall, he had gotten six immediate answers and expected more to come in. Genji was one of them, along with Angela and Lena. They had made themselves comfortable by the time he and Zenyatta arrived nearly a week after, and according to Winston, Reinhardt was ready to cross oceans by paddle boat to join them. Torbjörn was in less of a hurry; Genji knew he had a family he was most likely reluctant to leave. And then Fareeha, who was ready to drop everything she had invested in the Egyptian army to aid them.

 

“Anyone else?” Genji asked as evenly as possible, making sure to seem more curious than hopeful.

 

“Apart from the definite yes’s,” Winston had paused to think, adjusting his glasses with a twitch of his nose. “No, I don’t believe so.”

 

Once Genji had approached the monitors, they lit up the room with a brighter blue glow. He dropped into the wheeled chair seated in front of the terminal with a heavy sigh and stared at the computer’s lockscreen.

 

All in all, the turnout was better than anyone could have hoped for. Everyone was wary of the idea, and a little wary of each other, but they were willing. _They_ had at least showed.

 

He couldn’t be mad, he told himself so every time he thought about it, so often it became a mantra. _You have no reason, you have no right, you cannot be angry, you cannot blame him._ Genji was the one who left with no warning, no explanation, and without a goodbye. Jesse McCree did not owe him anything.

 

Genji rested his elbows on the desk, let his chin rest atop his hands, and continued to worry anyway. On the screen where his gaze had rested, the blue ‘A’ grew bright and then dimmed periodically, letting him know that Winston’s new program was online, waiting for a command or request.

 

His hands ghosted over the terminal’s keyboard for a moment, thinking. “Athena,” he started hesitantly.

 

The ‘A’ flickered when a woman’s voice responded. “Good evening, agent.”

 

“Hello,” he replied, and then said nothing more.

 

A moment passed before Athena spoke again. “Would you like me to assist you with something, agent?”

 

Eventually, he nodded. It was a shot in the dark, but - at the point Genji found himself - anything was better than not knowing.

 

With the program’s help, Genji was given access to the facility’s old database. While going through the process of loading up Genji’s profile with all the necessary codes and qualifications to prevent a lockout, Athena informed him of the reliability of the files. She and Winston had done their best on keeping it up to date by filing through news articles and broadcasts. Even still, most of the information was still being worked through, locked away behind several layers of protection. Compared to what it had been, the Overwatch Database was very sparse.

 

Genji wasn’t bothered. He was only interested in a single file, and he held on to the hope that maybe he would get lucky this time, that the info he was after wouldn’t be hidden from him.

 

Once he was signed in, he was shown a wall of text and highlighted words and numbers, blocks of errors. Athena seemed to be sorting through it for him. “Are agent files available?” he asked her while she worked.

 

“Some of them,” she told him. “Several are locked or redacted and require a level of authorization that we do not possess. It is being dealt with. However, your file appears to be open for viewing.” On the screen, the coding fell away and a list of agents was being scrolled through too fast for Genji to read. “Would you like me to pull it up for you, agent?”

 

He had no interest in learning what they had found on him throughout the years after he left. Whether it was lies or not, it mattered little to him now. Genji knew what he’d done. “No,” he answered, and then struggled to say any more. He debated on searching through the countless files himself, just to avoid saying the name, but someone was sure to come looking for him before he’d find it. “Search for Jesse McCree. Please.”

 

“Searching.”

 

On screen, names began to fall away as the program sorted through them. Letters disappeared until only ‘M’ remained, and then more fell away until only one name remained. Where an ID picture should have been, there was only a black and red symbol, one that Genji was sure would have matched his if he had looked for it.

 

Blackwatch.

 

_Somehow, Angela managed to erase the line between a patient’s check up and a friendly chat between friends. She worked quickly, efficiently, and went through the motions of catching up with Genji in between questions like ‘any pain?’ and ‘how long has this been happening?’. Genji was glad for her. He was most familiar with Angela than anyone else that had responded to the recall._

 

_“Winston is glad you decided to join us again,” she announced after a comfortable lull in their conversation had run its course. She said it absently, seemingly more focused on the readings coming through on her tablet. Genji hummed, remaining as still as possible as to not disturb the wires. “I am too,” she admitted. “With everything involving the PETRA’s act and the UN, there is a strange comfort in knowing that we have an ex Blackwatch agent in our ranks.” The hand holding her tablet lowered, but her gaze did not follow it. “No one knew how to stay under the radar more than Reyes. To have someone who worked so closely with him . . . ” She trailed off to swipe at something on the pad, knowing Genji could gather the meaning himself._

 

_“I worked under his command,” he corrected her softly. “I would not go as far as saying I worked closely with him. Another agent filled that place.”_

 

_Just as it had before when he had made a vague mention of the man, the silence returned, this time heavier. Angela tried to hide the furrow between her brow by forcing a strained smile onto her face. The relationship between McCree and her had always been a bit rocky to say the least; two different upbringings, two different views of the world, but they had been civil._

 

_“Perhaps it is for the best,” she said gently, returning to her work. “You knew him more than any of us. That man and his code.” Angela shook her head with a noise, managing to sound fond as well as exasperated. “From what Winston has told me, I wouldn’t be surprised if he believed it best he stay away.”_

 

Athena was telling the truth when she informed him of the work they had been doing. McCree’s file was full, more so than Genji had expected. By the look of it, all of the available documents and folders had been organized into chronological order and the inaccessible files were sorted toward the bottom, blocks of black pressed over the text. All in all, it was better than Genji had been expecting. He had to remember to thank Winston for the meticulous effort this undoubtedly took.

 

The earlier entries all seemed to be reports, mission or medical. None of it struck Genji as important, having been there with McCree for a lot of it. It was the fourth document from the top was the entry pertaining to McCree’s disappearance five years prior that finally had him pause. He stared at the title for a long moment - AGENT BW023_DES - and remembered how McCree had looked at him the last time they’d shared each other’s company. He remembered how the gunslinger had looked in a hospital bed with a part of him missing, eyes following Genji as the cyborg paced the length of the room. He had shared Genji’s disbelief, but confusion trumped any underlying emotion. Everything McCree had known was falling apart around him, his purpose, his home, his family - and not for the first time. McCree had been lost in that moment, but Genji was hurting too much himself to recognize it.

 

Genji didn’t linger any longer, continuing through the list.

 

The next entry was more recent, created with a different type of program. More recent, Genji guessed; the first of Winston’s. When he opened it, he was met only with several screenshots ripped from a news site and no written text. He enlarged the document for easier reading, eyes skimming over the title of the article.

 

“ **Street Still In Shambles After Following Noodle Joint Shootout - Who’s Keeping Us Safe?** ”

 

After the last few weeks he had endured, the title almost pulled a laugh from Genji. Despite traveling the world with a robot monk, possessing the ability to conjure a dragon at will, and joining a talking gorilla’s military, _this_ is what seemed too absurd for him. He felt like he was reading something that had been lifted straight from a cheap superhero movie and it should have been funny. But the laugh caught in his throat, recognizing restaurant shown in the photo attached to the page.

 

Briefly, Genji skimmed the contents of the article, ignoring most of the author’s fable. A few things stuck out, but the most important and the hardest to process were “Rikimaru” and “failed robbery” and the vigilante with an “anachronistic fashion sense”.

 

Genji shifted back into the chair minutely and then remained very still. The article had been posted only four days after his encounter with his brother back in his home city of Hanamura.

 

Perhaps too harshly, he hits the page down key, something in him dreading looking at the photo any longer. Unfortunately, the document scrolled down to another screenshot of a news website, and another again after that one. All of the headers read relatively the same, font in bold black text, telling of murders, robberies, heists, kidnappings -

 

A wanted poster was the last thing on the document, having an entire page dedicated to just it. He scrolled passed the rough police sketch of the man, passed the crimes he had been accused of, passed the procedure to follow if anyone happened to catch sight of him, and only stopped when he couldn’t scroll down any farther - when the only thing left to see were the words “Wanted Dead or Alive; Reward: $60,000,000”.

 

“ _Perhaps it is for the best_.”

 

Genji hadn’t realized he had been clenching his hands until he heard the creaking of metal within his right fist, the arm to the computer chair nearly collapsing in his grip. He watched the blood flow back into the whites of his knuckles to his flesh hand and let out a long breath, trying to ease the ache he felt in his chest.

 

No longer having any desire to look at the digital poster anymore, he closed the document and then the file as a whole after it. It didn’t take the uneasiness away with it, however. It lingered, and Genji wish he could tell himself that he shouldn’t feel guilty. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder how different things would have played out if he had just _convinced_ McCree to leave with him. Instead, he got too frustrated, mistook the cowboy’s loyalty and faith for stubbornness. So, Genji left, alone, hurting too much himself to see anyone else’s pain. Not his fault - not anyone’s fault; it was just how the world played people like him and Jesse McCree.

 

Across from the file name on screen, the Blackwatch icon had disappeared and been replaced by an orange, gridded orb. Genji clicked on it without a second thought and the screen dimmed. Replacing the loss of light was a sudden projection of the globe emitting from the console itself, spinning slowly and casting an uneven orange and purple glow.

 

Eventually the rotation came to a halt, stopping when North America was facing toward him. A marker appeared in the eastern region, labeled plainly as ‘Agent BW023’. It pulsed green.

 

McCree’s communicator was still online.

 

If he had not ditched it, then he was ignoring them. There was no sure way of knowing, but Angela had been right - Genji knew McCree better than most. The cowboy was reserved, quiet, kept to himself, and it was always because he was thinking too much. He was smarter than most, but didn’t trust himself enough to speak out, just let it stew until it built up and he made a rash decision he would pretend he was too prideful to regret.

 

Spending too much time idle caused the projection to shut off. The monitor lit back up, displaying that specific communicator’s activity; the only thing to be shown being the request to return to active duty.

 

Genji’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, never quite landing on a key - not sure what to say, if he should say anything.

 

_You are needed here._

_I’m sorry._

_I’m worried._

_Come home Jesse._

 

He erased each message as soon as he typed them, closed the window, and asked Athena to sign him out before he left.

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't written in a very long time :)


End file.
